Submitted by HearingDamage_ t3_1214ywx in BuyItForLife
Have gone through about 5 sets of cookware in the last decade and I’m done. Would like ceramic coat ideally because of non stick but I know that wears off. Not a fan of stainless steel, heavy cast iron or stonewear and don’t want anything heavy with toxins.
I think I’m coming to terms with this. Maybe it’s time I learn the correct way of cooking that doesn’t require nonstick!
You nailed it with this comment. It took a while for me to learn how to cook on cast iron. Now I'll never go back.
Honestly, it's worth it, IMHO. It takes a little time to get used to, and it can be a little frustrating at first, but once you learn it you simply do not need nonstick. Even for eggs and fish, they can be effortlessly cooked in stainless with the right heat settings and cooking fats. I eat eggs daily and have owned exclusively stainless for over 20 years. (You can also get stellar performance from carbon steel and cast iron).
What brand do you like for stainless? Is Cuisinart any good?
I currently have the Demeyere Atlantis and it is arguably one of the gold standards of stainless cookware with simply stellar performance. It really shines with induction, which can have a tendency to be hard on cookware.
The Multi-Clad Pro (MCP) and the Professional Series are both good products. The MCP is fully clad, whereas the Professional Series uses a disc design (the Chef's Classic uses a disc design as well, but it is not as good of a design as the Professional Series). Tramontina Tri-ply Clad is also good on the entry level of stainless.
However, I would strongly recommend considering All-Clad because it is a step up in manufacturing quality compared to Cuisinart and Tramontina, and they currently have crazy good deals on factory seconds at https://homeandcooksales.com/ . These are factory-direct sales of cookware with damaged packaging (for a discount) or cosmetic imperfections (for a huge discount). I had All-Clad before getting my Demeyere I highly recommend them.
If you are flexible on pricing, I would also recommend looking at the Demeyere Industry and Demeyere Atlantis.
Carbon Steel?
I haven’t heard of this kind, I’ll look into it!
Carbon steel isn’t non stick like ceramic or Teflon
Scanpan is probably the best non stick out there, but really if you aren't buying carbon steel, stainless or cast iron, it's going to end up in the landfill after a few years. If you don't like the weight of cast iron, buy an old Griswold or some of the newer cottage makers, a lot lighter than the Lodge most people know. I tend to use stainless for my pots and CS or my skillets because I also got sick of cookware ending up in the trash .
We grew up with a griswold and that was our only pan. Great memories and very versatile! I should see if my folks still have it. Thanks for your input!
Search Youtube for America's Test Kitchen's video about ceramic cookware. They tested a bunch and found it performed worse and degraded faster than Teflon.
I will! Thank you.
Look into silver coated copper cookware.
What about carbon steel? A friend of mine has one, and after she worked on the seasoning for awhile, it's become basically non-stick. Carbon steel is a lighter then cast iron and a little heavier then stainless steel.
Stargazer makes pretty lightweight cast iron pans with a smoother interior then Lodge pans. Still heavier then carbon steel though.
I haven't had a non-stick pan for cooking food in more then a decade, and I fry and scramble eggs on a little stainless steel Cuisinart pan. I give it time to heat up on medium-low to medium heat, flick a little water on it if I'm not sure, and use oil.
For other kinds of cooking, I release food from stainless steel pans by covering them and letting them sit off the heat for five minutes. I have a Cuisinart universal steamer with the lid that fits my little pans. And I have a Zwilling universal lid for my larger pans.
I used to use the smallest Green Pan for making hash oil for a relative I was taking care of - and it seemed pretty disposable. I used to keep a second one around just in case. I think "ceramic" non-stick is more of a sales pitch then anything else.
Highly recommend All-Clad HA1 pans. You get all the goodness of cast iron (heat retention/distribution, non-stick), with none of the maintenance. Bought a set in 2019 and cooked through all of pandemic. No scratches so far and have yet to find anything that would stick
I haven’t personally owned them but I think the oxo professional series is well liked
I’ll check that out. Thank you!
Check out Green Pan. We gave up on other non stick
Best we found is no longer made. Le Creuset gysimal (ceramic coating).
I’ve noticed this is offered everywhere, it just doesn’t look like it will hold up but I’m getting the feeling there is no nonstick that will. I appreciate your comments!
Green pan sucked for us. Coating came off.
Green pans work great for us
But you must use plastic tools and wash by hand.
pan567 t1_jdl62up wrote
If you want something that is BIFL, it needs to be stainless, cast iron, or carbon steel, without any sort of coating. Ceramic coatings can tend to have an even shorter service life than PTFE (Teflon) and, like PTFE, eventually lose their nonstick properties and will need to be replaced.
Of the ceramic offerings, the products offered by OXO are generally considered to be pretty good. However, even if you use the right utensils, store it properly, only use it with low and medium-low heat, and clean it carefully, it's realistic lifespan is a handful of years, compared to the multiple decades that carbon steel, cast iron, and stainless can last for.